Skillful Managment
by hauntedfogg
Summary: Harry Potter has been betrayed by one he loved most, with only a handwritten journal explaining why. This story follows a girl given an idea of how to break her enemy, she employs it with a long term scheme. What she didn't factor into the equation was her own emotions. Or the later involvement of the Dark Lord. AU following closely to canon.
1. Prologue

Harry,

I know you're tempted to burn this but please just read it. This book contains all the major events of my years at Hogwarts; The Sorting, the early years, when I first started talking to you- everything. The whole story, no gaps. I really want you to understand before you decide to cut me out of your life.

I would love to say it was never my intention to hurt you but that would be a lie, you already know that. What you don't know is that there was a point where the cruel intentions were pushed aside. You should know but you refused to listen. It was understandable. I hope you at least take the time to read what I have written, I truly did not want to hurt you in the end.

My actions were indeed regrettable but perhaps forgivable, I'll leave that for you. We won't ever be the same after this but we could rebuild and move on if you let me try. Try to remember I took a risk coming clean about this, you could take a risk with me.

-Mariella.


	2. The Sorting

Starting from the start, I'll begin with the journey from platform nine and three quarters. The first time I saw you. I had heard of you, of course but it was so strange to see a legend in person.

The train ride began just as I had expected it to since childhood. I was kissed goodbye by my mother and father before boarding and gripped the hand of Draco Malfoy after he received similar treatment from his own mother. Draco and I had been close since we were young. It was none of that mushy "he was my confidant" rubbish, our family were friends for political reasons and we had been matched by our mothers.

It was meant to be a romantic love-since-youth thing, I had overheard my mother saying. Families loved to meddle. Personally, I found the young Malfoy rather whiney in private and obnoxious in public, but he was cute to my eleven year old eyes making it tolerable. The other girls in my circle's jealousy was another perk. Everybody loves an heir. Besides there was no use making my mother upset over something that seemed so tedious as being in a relationship. It wasn't exactly what you would call love.

The compartment we selected was full of the usual suspects. Pansy Parkinson, Millicent Bulstrode, Crabbe and Goyle, I immediately frowned wishing it was Tracey and Daphne. Hiding my contempt, I adjusted my glasses and took a seat across from Millicent, in between Pansy and Draco, positioning myself in the perfect spot to listen to the summer's gossip while having my hand fondled by Malfoy. It was going to be a long ride.

I didn't dislike my company, well not much but it was getting rather old. Since the school year had yet to even start… It was not looking to be a bright future enjoying the company of my parent-selected friends all day and all night. It least at home I got a break from it but here, we were most likely going to share dorms in Slytherin. The thought alone had me ready to take a nose dive out the compartment's window.

My saving grace from a long winded tale of Draco's daring flying feats came in the form of Tracy Davis, she burst in followed by some other future Slytherins, with news of one Harry Potter.

Draco rose pulling me along with him, "Don't harass the boy, you lot stay here. Me, Crabbe and Goyle will go so as not to overwhelm him."

As usual, I was just treated as an extension of Draco's arm, like a wand, dragged along to accompany him and the boys. They got a compartment number from Davies and set off down the empty train corridor. There were no words exchanged while we walked, we all knew the drill Draco talks, we follow, I stand behind but in sight.

We entered the compartment to find a ginger, a boy with glasses, a rat and a pile of sweets which the rat promptly entered. I leaned against the door frame outside just watching.

"Is it true?" Malfoy opened, "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"

"Yes," you replied, not looking at Draco, assessing Crabbe and Goyle flanking Draco, with on the briefest glance at me over Crabbe's shoulder.

We barely made eye contact and I quickly looked away pushing my hair out my face. Draco introduced Crabbe and Goyle then himself and me. The conversation, as you know, went down from there. We had looked rather foolish by the end of it. Like cowards, the boys quickly left at the sight of a bushy haired girl making her way towards us.

I sighed as Draco dragged me back into my seat, minutes later down the train. He quickly dismissed Potter to our group and said little else than that you were friends with oafs and the wrong sorts. I went back to listening to dreadfully boring gossip and watching the landscape change as we speed through the countryside.

The next step in my day was the Sorting Ceremony.

Like most purebloods, I knew what it entailed and I thought I knew where I was going to end up like most of my friends. Draco continued to hold my hand as long as possible before hand but had to eventually let go.

"Corvi, Mariella," was called and I made my way to the stool in an almost bored manner.

"A tough girl, hmm?" the small voice began the second the ragged hat was on my head, "Very cunning, as most purebloods are taught to be. But I see boredom and a good mind, if not put to good use it will be wasted. You require a challenge. Bravery too, but you aren't particularly nice…"

"Shut it," I snarled internally, giving the hat a good laugh.

"I think I know where you need to go- GRYFFINDOR!" the last word was a shout and my table began to cheer.

I looked at Draco, eyes wide. This put a damper on things. What was I supposed to tell my parents? My friends? I could already hear the rumours circulating. Mariella, the muggle-loving blood traitor. I slowly walked and sat next to another first year, not daring to shake hands with anyone that offered. Merlin knows which of these people were mudbloods.

I watched other first years being sorted, Potter and Weasley and the girl from the train among others joining us at the table. My friends all joined the Slytherins. For the first time I was alone. It was almost a freeing concept but I knew later I would have a lot to answer to. I refused to show fear or sadness when I was with my inferiors, but were they really inferior anymore? I was in their house now. It was a hard concept to be forced on an eleven year old with a lot of her future prearranged. Curse that hat.

The feast ended before I had noticed food, my housemates had given up on trying to speak with me. I followed them quietly to my new home, Gryffindor Tower.


	3. Second Year's Plan

The following weeks comprised of getting my old friends to accept me and accepting new ones. I was able to play on my knowledge of the Slytherin girls to win them back and Draco only took a few conversations to bring back his crush on me. They accepted it all as a mistake, taking it as far to bother staff members with putting me in "my correct place". They were unsuccessful.

However the Gryffindors were harder to deal with. I relied mostly on surnames to find their blood status' but it was difficult. I avoided the obvious muggleborns, which caused many in the house to avoid me. Only one pure blood took pity on me. Lavender Brown was all I had for company and she was easily comparable to Parkinson. Loud mouthed but friendly. She helped me get more comfortable with the halfbloods and accepted my problems with muggles although she openly disagreed to save face around her housemates.

As the year progressed, I made enemies in my house due to my friendships with Slytherin and relationship with a Malfoy but I remained out their way. But Draco's rivalry with you, Harry, increased. And in turn, so did mine, you made my future husband look like a fool- to me a great offence. When we won the house cup at the end of the year due to your efforts was when his goal to get back at you got serious.

The Malfoy Manor on the outside that summer was beautiful. The Malfoy's had gotten a new collection of white birds and the flowers had bloomed by the time of my visit. The strife of my house placement was eased over before Christmas and the Malfoy's and Corvi's still longed for their children to continue their pureblooded line.

Draco had plans of a different kind on his mind, for which he wanted me to be the pawn.

"Mariella," Draco burst into my guest room, face flushed, "I think I may have come up with something!"  
I returned his grin, "What is it?"  
"Date Potter, mess with him. Girls are good at that stuff and after all our parents don't have to know and the Slytherins would be in on it. Everyone wins except Potter."

I thought it over, the plan had potential but it was rough. He wasn't as smart as he believed, nor as cunning.

"Potter would never believe that I would want to date him for one thing and another, someone would let it slip spoiling the whole game," I mused over the idea, watching Draco do the same.  
"You're the only Gryffindor that would help, the rest love him like a saint," he whined.

I dismissed him quickly and went back to dealing to my short hair, using my wand for touch ups in the warm brown highlights. I was hardly beautiful, with a big nose and small mouth, so I could never believed I could win you over that way. I had to play on your heroic traits and kindness. A plan slowly formulated over the rest of the summer to be put into action when we returned to Hogwarts.

The first step was to distance myself from the Slytherins. This was key. How could Harry Potter ever be interested in a blood purist? It started slowly, with only Draco aware of the plan. He planted seeds of distrust in my closest friends as I began to avoid them. Ideas of my traitorous behaviour surfaced towards the end of the second year. Leaving me with no friends but Lavender and the secret relationship with Draco.

I believed this to be the price I had to pay to do my task. That was until word got to my mother of course. Lavender and I were the only ones in our dormitory when I received the howler.

Lavender cursed as I opened it, "MARIELLA! ARE YOU TRYING TO BE BURNT OFF THE FAMILY TREE? TRYING TO DISGRACE US? FIRST, YOU WERE PLACED IN A HOUSE THAT HAS NEVER CONTAINED OUR FAMILY NAME AND NOW I HEAR FROM THE PARKINSONS THAT PANSY HAS INFORMED THEM OF YOUR RECENT LEAVE FROM A RESPECTABLE GROUP OF FRIENDS, TO BE ONE WITH THE GRYFFINDORS! BEST FRIENDS WITH A BLOOD TRAITOR!" I winced this was the first I've had a voice raised towards me, "I'm removing you from that damn school if you can't explain this. Go to your Head of House, right now."

The words were followed by a sigh.

"Merlin… I wondered what your parents would think if they knew you were spending more time with me," Lavender chuckled.  
I felt almost guilty about my mother harsh words in her direction, "I'm sorry you had to hear that."

It was almost a sincere apology too. It was a strange thought to me then. I, of course, believed her to be a blood traitor but to have my mother say it with such disgust in Lavender's presence left an odd feeling of remorse of the idea of offending the girl. The thought left as quickly as it came, dismissed as I thought of my talent at acting.

I slowly tied my shoes, procrastinating. I had to get an owl to Draco but my mother said to go to McGonagall very clearly. I was going to have to trust Lavender or it was going to take too long.

"I need you to get Malfoy," I said carefully.  
"Why? He hates you remember, he was the one that spread all those rumours," the confusion was evident, it was as though I asked her for the map to Atlantis.  
"Because I don't have time to," I snapped, breaking the character that I had been developing of a quiet girl.

I didn't wait for a reply before I dashed down the stairs and out the portrait hole all the way to McGonagall. I composed myself before sauntering into her office, without knocking.

"I suspect you have received a letter from my mother," I drawled, glad I could let my guard down without other students present.

I had been in McGonagall's office only once before and that was purely for being late to class too many times. I was not shocked to see a flash of quickly composed confusion from the professor at my rude entrance.

"Indeed I did, I trust you know that you can only use head-only, " she directed me to the fireplace, pointed out the floo powder and excused herself.

Her exit left me worried but calmed. No one to stop my mother from yelling but also no one to hinder me from telling her my motives. I stuck my head in the green flames and summoned a house-elf to inform my mother I was here.

The quiet of her entrance was unnerving, she sat down in front of the fire and took a deep breath.

"Mum, I can explain, I promise," I began.  
"I had suspected since I first heard of where you had been placed that it would go this way, Mary," she spoke in such a defeated tone that I refrained from laughing at the conclusion she had drawn.  
"I'm not a blood traitor, mother," I suppressed a scoff, "It's all a plot to get back at Harry Potter for Draco. As part of the plan people had to believe I was a blood traitor."  
"MARIELLA!" she spluttered, "You ruined your social standing for some kind of prank?!"  
"Not a prank, a plot. Now if you could keep this from father and perhaps the Malfoy's, if Draco hasn't already told them, I would appreciate it," I pulled my head out the fire to ensure I was still alone, "If I take to long McGonagall will come looking so I can't tell you much, but I swear this is worth it. You'll have to excuse me, I'll see you in a few weeks."

The conversation ended abruptly as McGonagall proved my point by knocking on the door. I thanked her, informed her I would not be leaving the school and set off to find Draco to explain myself.


	4. Summer of 1993

To say Draco was mad at me for revealing the scheme to my mother was an understatement. I was almost certain that he was going to give up the whole plan that day and hex me for good measure. He always was cowardly. He ignored me for the rest of that year, not that it was much of a change. Our secret meetings to discuss your demise grew less frequent as the year trudged on. I was ignored right up to the point where I was spotted by both our parents while exiting the train and whisked off to floo to the Malfoy Manor.

Draco and I were both pushed firmly into plush black velvet couches in the Manor's library before he could start yelling at me. We both knew the routine to our summer holidays, two weeks in our own homes before being switched backwards and forwards between each others together. We both knew what this was about.

"Mariella! You fool! I told you, you were stupid for telling your mother!" he screeched in a manner that had me reaching for my wand to deafen myself.  
"Quiet now, Draco. That is no way for a young man to speak to a girl," Lucius interrupted, "Explain yourselves."  
I pinched the bridge of my nose before giving a seething glare to my mother, "We plan to destroy Potter. Draco may not have informed you that Potter is frequently upstaging him with his heroic deeds such as defeating a basilisk at only twelve. We are going to knock him down a peg. In order to do that, I had to hide my values from the public, lose my standing, etcetera."

"Merlin, you aren't even thirteen yet! How does a twelve year old come up with that?!" my father fumed.

I look over to Draco and tried to get him to take a turn at defending my actions, it was his fault after all.

"It was my idea, Mister Corvi," there was a tremble in Draco's thigh.  
"And it was a great one, Draco," Lucius spoke in a honeyed tone, "Now, Mariella, do you wish to share the details of this plot?"

I didn't really. As I spoke, all adults in the room grew uncomfortable except Lucius. He was enthralled by our great heist. He openly praised Draco and I as I told them the plan, adding ideas himself as I spoke. It was fascinating to listen to his additions, especially as I slowly realized he was more cunning than I could begin to imagine. He did not mind me being sacrificed on the road to his son's happiness. He turned a slightly cruel idea into a sadistic plot to overthrow popularity.

It was difficult to allow Draco all the credit, but that was my place in our families. I was pleased that we were still engaged to be engaged. There were moments I feared we would not be. Twelve year old girls in my position often worried about how their arranged marriage was going, despite their youth.

Lucius stopped my navel-gazing with a shock.

"While we are all together, my friends and family, I have bad news," Lucius began, " I have lost my position as Hogwart's School governor. Attempts are being made to connect me to the opening of The Chamber of Secrets."  
"But you can't be, can you? How could you have anything to do with it? Other than hating mudbloods and muggles…" I frowned.

Glances were exchanged amongst my family, my mother sighed. She was doing that a lot lately. I glared at her again for betraying me, despite the reward I got for being betrayed. Draco was looking as puzzled as I.

"Mariella, Draco, there was something we had to hide from you as children. Today you have proven you are ready to hear this," my mother said, unsure of herself.  
Narcissa looked startled, "Sophia, are you sure about this? They're only young! Lucius?"  
"They have proven themselves well," Lucius replied without hesitation, "We were pardon for our crimes in the Wizarding War, as the four of us were under Imperius curse as you already know. The Dark Lord had chosen us as Astyanax and I were and remain to this day, influential."

I glanced at my father, he looked pleased at that statement. It has been clear since I was a child that Astyanax Corvi was a man of power, and he was to be spoke of as such. Draco looked bored, we had both listened to this story many times.

"Or so we claimed," Lucius continued, "Prior to the Dark Lord's downfall I had been assigned to have the cleverly enchanted old school diary of Tom Riddle, the Dark Lord's true name on an unsuspecting student. Last summer holidays, I planted it on the Weasley girl."

That was new information, a look of appall threatened to overcome my features but I was quick to mask my disgust. This wasn't in the name of blood purity, the diary attempted to kill Potter. A pathetic way to dispose of an enemy that was merely a school boy.

Draco burst into a grin, "Father, that was a brilliant idea! It's a shame that no one was harmed permanently!"  
I was surprised he hadn't started clapping, I was quick to cut in before he could, "Why use a glorified snake to kill Potter?"  
Lucius glared, "This was not all for Potter, girl. Children, you are dismissed."

I instantly regretted speaking.

Draco was back to playing my gentleman, he stood quickly and offered his hand to me. I was led out to the gardens to watch him flaunt his flying talent in the last of the sunlight. He looped in the sky, laughing. Flying was one of the few things that put Draco in a good mood, while the pinks and purples cast by the setting sun left me feeling content.

It was hard to think of what Lucius had said that day. It seemed almost wrong to send a basilisk to kill people. Almost being a key word. The muggle borns were filthy but I found myself stumped on why they needed to die. Blood purity was important to me, and that was just how things were and I had to accept it as is.


End file.
